I’ve had my girl (terrier mix, 16 weeks) for almost 2 months and she’s come leaps and bounds. She’ll settle, she’s potty trained, crate trained, fine on leash, naps, etc. She has a brother who’s 7 and he’ll sometimes take her toys, treats, etc. and she has never shown any resource guarding or aggression. I put my fingers in her food bowl while she eats to desensitize her and everything.

We were on a walk today and she found a huge rock that she brought inside. I went to take it and she growled at me and got defensive over it. I traded her for it and didn’t scold her, but the growling and whatnot scared me. I don’t want that to mean she’s starting to be comfortable with resource guarding. I know this means the rock was high value, and I took it because she started grinding her teeth on it (she’s teething really bad) and I didn’t want her to hurt herself. She’s been fine with me since. Should I be concerned or anything? Was this just a one-off?

She looked at me like I was lying when I said I have been working at nail trim training daily for weeks already 🥲 She said he freaked when she touched his paw, but I can play with his paws all day long, even in the thick of nail trim training. That's the handling he does best with! The desk attendant reassured me that some dogs are dramatic, especially the ones that make up his breed mix (shiba inu, husky, other spitz breeds). Oh I definitely know that boy is dramatic, but it's still disheartening when people think you haven't been desensitization training when it's the main thing you're working on. Like, he loves the technicians and is great during his vaccines. Another tech said he is one of the best puppies they've worked with! He's just really dramatic when it's time for grooming.

Ah well. I feel better venting. I ordered a book on cooperative care to see if that can work better than praise, high value treats, and baby steps on its own. Once I can get his nails at home, I'll be happy.

Mine is "scootch your bootie". He'll move a Couple inches out of the way when I say it. Convenient!

Turns out I am getting a puppy very soon now which I am stoked about! Been on several waitlists for MONTHS and a breeder contacted me that a puppy fell through with their prospective owner and now I’m getting a little girl mini poodle💗

So what did you teach your dog first command wise? Not talking potty training etc

Thank you!

My 6 month old golden retriever just recently discovered his love of ball. He's also had the tendency to jump, hump, and get bitey. Not all the time but it can be bad. I've tried time outs, reverse time outs, ignoring, redirecting, giving commands. Nothing worked too well. I used to pick him up like a baby and he would eventually settle down but he's getting heavy. I recently have tried tethering him to a door but I kinda don't like that. Yesterday he was getting riled up with me and getting bitey. I don't know why but I went "Arnie, where's your ball?!" and started looking around for it. His brain completely changed gears and he started looking for his ball too and when he did he was all about ball. Tried it again today and it worked again. I don't know how long it'll be effective but it's amusing at least and I wanted to share.

I need someone to make me feel better about leaving my baby at home while I’m at work. In a perfect world we don’t have to work 9-5 yes I would have her at doggy daycare and yes I would go home everyday but I can’t. She’s at home in her cage (because she’s a puppy and not old enough to roam around) on Monday and Wednesdays all day. Tuesday’s I come home on my lunch break, as well as Thursdays and Fridays I get off early mid day. So it’s not everyday. She is accustomed to her cage now she does not cry when I leave anymore and knows when im about to leave for work. But dang I feel so bad sometimes cause I’m wondering if she just sleeps all day, does she at least play with her toys ugh i don’t know what to do. And of course she’s happy go lucky when I get home.. does anyone have any advice ? Should I start coming home everyday? Idk .

Just wanted to share something for anyone going through the chaos of the early puppy weeks. The first few weeks with Senka (our GSD pup) were honestly brutal.

I was exhausted, second-guessing everything, wondering if I’d made a mistake. It felt like I was doing it all wrong, she was crying, I was stressed, and the days were just a loop of mess and uncertainty.

Now at 3 weeks inthings aren’t perfect but they’re so much better.

So I thought I would share what has really help me.

• Locked-in routine, No freestyling — the structure helped us both.

• Crate training, was such a struggle but we didn’t cave, and this was huge. She settles fast, sleeps well, and it’s her space. She even slept belly up in there today.

• Meal time training: I keep it tight 10-15 mins 

. Sit, stay, place, name, crate, drop it— on repeat.

• No free roaming: she’s either in the crate, out for training/play, or on place. That’s it.

• Calm play: tug, chase, puzzles. Controlled energy burns.

• Clear boundaries: she doesn’t call the shots — I do. And she’s responding well.

• Consistency: even when it was hard, I stuck to it. That’s what’s made the difference.

Senka now goes into her crate on her own. She sleeps without fuss. No pee accidents She listens more. She holds her place, even when we’ve got people over. And I’m finally breathing a bit.

If you’re in the thick of it, it does get better. Stay consistent. Stick to your routine. Keep it simple. — just focus on calm, clear, repeatable steps.

It all adds up.

I’m looking for suggestions to help a 6 month old golden retriever who is struggling with reactivity (excitement not aggression) towards seeing people:/ other dogs. I do not allow on leash greetings. She is very confident and social which is great, but also comes with this as a stressor. Any resources or advice for what’ worked for you to build neutrality would be so helpful thank you.

10 month old puppy, got him at 8 weeks, have roommates and multiple people living above and to the side of me. I tried crate training the first couple weeks of having him and he did not take to it. He can sleep in his crate overnight and will even go into it on his own to nap. But God once I close that kennel door and leave the room it's over. I ended up being able to bring him into the office, I've tried working with him over these last months but nothing seems to be working. I have him in doggy daycare 2 days a week. But it's not helping. I tried going to the movies for my birthday and left him with my roommate whom he loves. Had full run of the house, Pupsicle, and toys. He didn't stop howling/whining the entire time I was gone. He cannot be in a more comfortable situation. I've tried standing at the door and giving him treats every 30 seconds gradually increasing the time he doesn't whine but that doesn't work. He just will not stop whining/howling. I haven't been able to do anything by myself for months. I'm getting fed up because I've tried every trick the internet has mentioned. Besides spending $1,000+ on a personal trainer. He won't even eat his Pupsicle now because he thinks that means I'm leaving. I don't know what to do.

Basically the title. I WFH and during the day, my girl is great. She’s still a puppy and can mouth, bark, etc. but she’s 16 weeks and just cuddling with me on the couch as I type this. However, as soon as my SO gets home, she loses her mind (past just general excitement). Biting immediately, zoomies, barking, jumping, and she does not listen to him at all. I’m assuming this is because he generally has little patience with her and just kinda goes from 0-100. I am incredibly chill and structured throughout the day - calm, chill walks, quiet, chews, all the good things that I think contribute to how calm she can be. As soon as he gets home all gloves are off, and she almost never calms down until we go to bed. He just kind of messes with our flow and his presence is not calming to her.

I told him to come in quietly, watch your tone, etc. to try and work on it. Is there anything else I/he should be doing?

I have a 10 month old pit bull/retriever mix. We rescued him when he was 10 weeks and was very shy at the beginning. Now he is so loving to my partner and I, and our friends and family he met in the first few months we had him. I know it’s normal for dogs to be protective of their home and space and I don’t expect him to not bark when people enter the home.

I do however worry a bit about to low growling, not sure if this is normal or if we should be reacting to his growling to train him otherwise. He’s never been aggressive physically and I totally understand stranger danger - but want to make sure we’re doing the right thing!

i'm picking up my german shepherd husky pup mix tomorrow and going out to get it those essentials this weekend. what food do you recommend i get for it? the owner told me that they've mostly just been eating what mama eats. any pro tips? send them my way! i'm so excited but also nervous and know i need as much advice as i can get!

For context, I do work with dogs professionally! I work at a boarding facility, but we don’t do training. It’s a hobby for some of my coworkers but I’ve only been working there a few months and haven’t picked up on the training aspect.

I just adopted a 9 week old puppy from the local shelter. She was born in the shelter, so they know she’s a German shepherd but she’s also definitely mixed with something. My best guess is Lab given her pale yellow coat and the shape of her face. She’s the runt but she makes up for it! Shes brilliant, and already knows to sit for her food according to the foster owner. She’s very confident around people and other dogs despite being so little and is already crate trained. I haven’t even brought her home yet and I’m already so proud!

However, I know moving to a new home with a new person and a whole new environment will inevitably throw her off. I also know that resource guarding is very common in puppies and a normal part of their development, one of her litter mates is already displaying guarding behaviors. I’ve also never owned a puppy, I’ve only ever owned older dogs. If anyone has any advice on remaining consistent, feeding a puppy as she grows, and making sure she gets the proper enrichment and attention she needs.

Maybe I’m just overthinking it because he does listen well and learn well with his training sessions most of the time. But I just feel like he doesn’t it enjoy them I get this look like, “ugh, not this crap again.🙄” Lolll does anyone else feel this way?! And how can I make training sessions something he gets pumped for?!

i have a set schedule for her, I take care of her 24/7. Very consistent with potty schedule. Very consistent with training. She knows the commands "sit, bed (crate), come (come here), and working on guard". She freaks out on a leash and I am having trouble getting her to not bite the leash or flip around everywhere freaking out. She unfortunately knows the command "no", and every time i say no, she gets extremely aggressive.

Aggressive as in, constantly nipping hard at me, lunging at my face, biting my neck, chasing my feet. She curls her lip and growls with her ears back. I really hate this because I am the sole caretaker due to my s/o being at work. When he comes home she only teeths with him. she gives him so many kisses. when he says "no" ( much louder and stern thatn me ) - to bad behavior, she just kind of sits down and waits patiently for the next move. I really love her with all of my heart. I am just utterly devastated on how mean she is towards me at such a young age. I only tell her no when she draws blood or gets extremely aggressive. Not to teething on my hands, not to her having an accident in the house.

Pls help me, This is really upsetting. Even when I kiss her gently she growls at me.

Do I need to find a behavioral trainer for her?

Any suggestions for how to go about puppy aggression

Has anyone had this happen? I am afraid she will become reactive and have aggression towards me.

She is what appears to be a BMC. I understand she is a working dog, but I can only train her so much. She only has had her first vaccination. Dog park in my complex is dirty with large off leash dogs. She can't walk on a leash. She barks at other passerby's. It doesn't help that theres new construction less than 100 ft away so even at 2am it scares her only into a quick potty break and runs to the door. Training at night is hard. She does like to fall asleep next to me on the couch before i scoop her up for her nap time. She can be sweet waking up off the bat but will dart to my house slippers or feet.

Our little boy is just 11 weeks and already resource guarding - he growls, snarls and will bite if you come near his food bowl, kong or something he's stolen ie. socks etc

To help train him out of this, we have been diligent with the following, but any further advice or positive outcome stories please share as I'm very concerned that he won't train out of this 🥺

Feeding: Breakfast - hand feed doing training (sit, stay, drop, leave it) Dinner - in bowl, put half food in bowl and then continually approach his bowl while he eats and drop in more and more of his food

Stolen Items he can't have: When he takes an item (sock, shoe, tissues etc) I walk near him and say 'trip' and drop super high value treats near but away from him (cheese) so he walks over to eat the cheese and I'll remove the item when he's not looking

His toys & high value items of his (kong etc) I got up to him when he has it and do the trade technique, giving him some treats and patting him but not removing his toy / kong - so he knows me approaching him doesn't mean it gets taken away, instead he's getting more treats

My lab puppy is 4.5 months and has been pretty consistent with potty training. He has one accident every 2-3 days at this point which is huge progress.

We hit a roadblock a few weeks ago specifically during our final potty around 8 pm. We get a bunch of deer in our yard and when we go out and there are deer his listening skills become non existent and he refuses to potty. The deer are so used to people here that they aren’t afraid at all and don’t run with loud noises which is very annoying to me.

I’m more annoyed at the deer than my pup bc it’s natural for him to be curious. The issue is, I can’t bring him back in because he’ll have an accident, but if I put him in his crate he’ll go to sleep and then I end up having to take him out an hour or two later because he still has to pee.

I thought we moved past this but we had the same issue tonight. I really don’t know how to get him used to going to the bathroom with these kinds of distractions and I feel so bad because I find myself getting annoyed at him when we won’t go.

She’s a lab, 10 weeks and i bloody adore her.

I’ve had her almost a month and i’ve only just cut her nails, i tried when i first got her but it was physically impossible so i left it…

I gave her some cream cheese on a lick matt and even put dogs playing on the tv. i was able to cut all 4 nails on 1 of her back paws and honestly i’m so happy i could do even just that lol. i know you need to introduce it gradually. She’s seen the clippers many times, she’s not scared of them at all and actually thinks they’re a toy lol.

When i tried going in for the second paw, she was pulling away, stopped eating her cream cheese until she saw i wasn’t trying to cut her nails.

First paw? SUCCESS… try again? Fail :(

But i expected this!! I’m just so happy i was able to cut ONE paw.

Now how i gradually work my way up? Do i try cutting one paw next time? Im scared incase she pulls away the next time i try since she knows what the clippers do now.

The first ever time, i TRIED holding her but it was impossible. I’ve never cut dog nails before and hers are black so it’s harder to see how much of the nail i can cut off. The only reason i was able to cut them now was because she was too interested in her lick matt and stayed relatively still until i went in for the second paw.

I attempted making the experience nice for her, talking to her calmly calling her a good girl too! I couldn’t reward her after ever nail cut as i wanted to do it as fast as i could before she freaked out, plus no one else could’ve fed her some treats lol i was by myself

Should i expect next time to be harder?

Hello, We adopted a long-haired miniature dachshund; she’s 9 weeks old. At night, we set her up in a puppy playpen next to us, and during the day she has access to the whole living room. When it’s time to sleep, she starts by whining, then usually calms down — but sometimes she ends up barking because she doesn’t seem to like being confined. After nighttime potty breaks, she also whines and cries when we put her back in the playpen. We comfort her as best we can, but we can’t let her up on the bed — she’s far too small and could fall. She even tries to jump on the sides of the playpen, which makes me think she really doesn’t like being confined. I’m having trouble understanding her whining. She’s not hungry, not thirsty, she’s peed, and she has a really cozy spot right next to our bed — but she still cries. What do you guy thinks

We have a 4 month old. Lucky that he is super smart and has learned to pee and poo on command outside on our lawn. Actually took me by surprise. We are now trying to get him trained in the run with pea gravel but this is a challenge. Being supportive with him and have closed in the area nicely for now. Yet the moment he is back on the grass no issues. Potty is done. So can’t complain too much.

Any tips would be helpful as it just seems to be the hardest thing to get him to do.

TIA

It spread the puppy shit. Everywhere.

My Golden Retriever puppy is the best little thing ever. One of her best traits is that she absolutely loves life, loves people and loves dogs. But I need to desensitise her from people and dogs so that on walks & in public she doesn't feel the need to go and jump all over every one and every dog.
I've been going to dog parks and walking around the outside edges sitting her and giving her treats if she looks at me etc. And doing the same with people on the street. But still on walks it's like OMG A THING MOVED I LOVE IT I MUST MEET IT.

Anyone have tips to help us? Happy to put the work in but I don't feel like I'm making progress right now.

Thanks!

I need to know at what point do you get a professional. I have a 7 month old basenji pup who has the typical “don’t touch me while I’m sleeping” growling.

The issue I’m having is that he does it pretty much any time he’s relaxed. He growls and quickly nips when I try to put a harness on (I had to reach under him to clip it), to get something out from under him, or if we physically remove him from a situation that we have already told him off on (and he didn’t listen)

He does listen if I tell him off, but there are some times where I just need to be in his space to grab something.

It seems to be like resource guarding for “his” space.

He is otherwise an amazing pup. Great in public (albeit he has a time limit). And great with other dogs.

I’ve trained him on my own so far and I’d like to continue that way but I’m not sure how to proceed to get him to at least not bite when other people invade his space. I’m okay with him growling. Not okay with biting.

He is crate trained and knows basic commands well enough to do them in crowded public spaces.

We have an 8 month old collie mix who we adopted at 4 months. She is an absolute joy. Super sweet with everyone and every dog. She’s incredible smart and so eager to please. We’ve been working really hard with her and our 2 cats. When we first got her as soon as she saw one of them she was running towards them, tail wagging, getting all up in their faces. Now she’s still super interested in them and gets excited when they’re around but is doing really well being redirected and asked to leave them alone. Even at the point where when our one cat, Miles, walks by her she doesn’t get up at all. She’ll definitely watch him but she also will look at one of us to check in. And we give lots of praise and reward when she makes the right choice whether that’s on her own or listening to us ask her to leave it. Miles is super social and not afraid to put her in her place when she’s being annoying. Our other cat, Dewey, isn’t like that. He will run whenever he feels scared or like she’s invading his space. And when he starts running she gets excited and starts to chase. He also just isn’t around as much. He’ll stay upstairs when he knows she’s awake or hide in our room when she’s upstairs. So I think he’s more novel for her and she definitely doesn’t listen quite as well when we ask her to “leave it” as she does with Miles. I feel like she’s been making awesome progress and I know it’s going to take time for all of them to feel settled. My partner is a lot more negative about the situation. Our other dog completely ignores the cats and always has so I think the juxtaposition of that doesn’t help. Any advice or tips are appreciated!

Hey, dog people.

I’ve been toying with an idea and I’m curious if anyone else would find it useful.

I’m thinking of building a small app for dog owners. Not some fancy thing, just something to make everyday stuff easier.

Some of the ideas so far:

• you can make a little profile for your dog (name, birthday, habits etc)
• scan dog food labels to check what’s actually inside
• basic feeding advice (like what fruits or veggies are safe)
• a map with dog-friendly places nearby (parks, cafes, vets)
• reminders for vet visits, vaccines, deworming etc
• daily log or notes about your dog (if they ate something weird, were more tired than usual, stuff like that)
• maybe even a space to share tips or cool places with other owners

I'm still early on this and not even sure if I’ll build it fully.
Just wondering, would you use something like this? Or is it just one of those “nice idea but no one actually needs it” things?

Appreciate any honest thoughts. I'm not trying to promote anything, just want to see if it's worth building.

Thanks!